Out, One Way or Another
by WynnRose
Summary: Bella is a girl trapped in a world of abuse, dieing to get out one way or another. Question is which way is easiest? Her fragile mind is all set, but can one family change it?
1. Chapter 1

_Bella slumped against the wall physically and emotionally exhausted. She tried to shut down her brain, to ignore the pulse of pain that ripped their way through her body. But apparently her body wasn't going to listen today, it would allow her to go zombie Bella. It is an especially sad state of affairs when all a seventeen year old child wants is to be able to not feel anything._

_Beaten. Beaten into submission. Beaten as punishment. Beaten for fun. That's all Isabella Marie Swan knew, all she feared she would ever know. From as far back as she could possibly remember she couldn't remember ever being happy, ever feeling love, buts those were the cards she was handed. She had no choice but to play them._

_She always tried her best to stay on his good side, that was if her had one, to not get in the way, to get whatever he needed immediately. But it didn't really matter he would find reasons for it anyway, it was hopeless. She was stuck. It's not like she could run, where could she go? It's not like he wouldn't find her, he assured her of that._

_Besides she knew what Charlie would do if she tried to run. She had seen it play out in real life. She had watched helplessly as Charlie beat upon her own mother, not relenting until the whimpers of pain stopped. Then he had returned to watching football, beer in hand. Little Bella had rushed to her mother's side, shaking her, begging her awake. But that never came. Bella sat there all night until Charlie threw her into her room. She never saw her mother again, it wasn't until she was older had she really understood what happened._

_Now everyday she would wait for her story to play out like her mother's. She waited for the beating that would do her in, that would end it all. So much so that she sometimes felt disappointed that he had stopped. She wanted out, more than anything, she wanted out._


	2. Chapter 2

_Bella jolted out of her nightmare-ridden sleep, sitting stock-straight in her bed, thin covers piled on the floor. As she moved her bones creaked unnaturally, her joints locked up and her muscles screamed in agony. Pushing herself of the bed with a sharp intake of air she braced for the full flood of pain. _

_Charlie hadn't let up last night, she actually hoped for a while that he would just end it. End her. But Bella had learned long ago that hopes were useless. Hopes would just crush you. A waste of time. Her mom had always scolded Bella when she would express these thoughts, it was one of the only memories of her mother she had left. Renee always said:_

"_You can't give up, you can't let him win. He can take everything from you, but he can't take away your hopes and dreams. Don't let him take those away too Bella, no matter what."_

_It was ironic that those were a few of the last words Renee Swan ever said, now it seemed that she knew what was coming for her and she was excepting it. What really made Bella puzzle was that if her mother knew it was over for her why didn't she tell Bella that she loved her? Those were the only words ever wanted her mom to say, but not once did those words ever cross Renee's lips._

_To a damaged girl that could only mean one thing: That her mother didn't love her, that she was unlovable. But those were the cards she was dealt. Why complain?_

_Moving at a snail's pace Bella went about her morning routine. The shower was Bella's haven. The warm water relaxed her muscles and put her brain at ease. She got dressed in clothes that would hide her bruises and scars, applied makeup to cover those that formed on any exposed skin, she would have to be careful not to wash her hands today or the cover-up would run. She was out the door and walking to school by 7:00 am. _

_The road was open, she was technically free to run, she could probably a good ways away before Charlie noticed anything amiss. Her heart screamed at her to go. Her brain held her back, knowing that she had nothing, nowhere to go, no one to go to. She was stuck._

_Arriving at school at 7:45 am Bella easily slipped into oblivion. No one bothered her at school, no one looked close enough to notice anything wrong about her, no one cared. It was as simple as that and Bella wouldn't have it any other way. The un-empathetic students of Forks high school wanted nothing to do with the "weird-girl". The abnormal in a sea of uniform._

_To anyone that looked at Isabella Swan they would think: Quiet. And they would be right, she only ever answered when directly questioned and even then her voice was a quiet airy tone. She always wore full length clothing, not matter what the temperature and her nose was always in some notebook of hers._

_That notebook happened to mean the world to Bella. Inside were the pieces of music that came from her heart and soul, her only release. Most of the pieces were composed in her head, fingers pressing invisible keys, music sounding in her head, it was the sole beautiful thing in her life. In a way her only hope._


	3. Chapter 3

_Bella expected nothing out of the ordinary today. Everything else hadn't changed. Charlie wasn't in the house this morning, he never was after a particularly harsh_ _beating, no one had paid attention to her. At least until she saw them._

_Bella had been sitting on one of the dry-rotted benches that were littered around the open commons area. She was working out a new melody in her head but it kept evading her, the sound was just slightly off and she was getting frustrated. At one point she had attempted to grip her pencil tightly only to barely contain the shriek that followed, she had taken a bad fall on it last night and thought a finger or two might be fractured. Nothing major._

_Enveloped in her mental struggle the car that pulled up went unnoticed but the silence that followed did not. Looking up she was shaken a little by the eerie lack of motion from her peers. Their eyes all appeared to be trained on one spot, causing Bella's eyes to follow instinctually. At first nothing appeared off. But then she saw the car, or more importantly saw them getting out of the car._

_Everything happened in slow motion, like when they slow everything down in a movie to create a mood, and the mood created was awe. There were five of them. The first out of the shiny was an immensely large man-child. _

_His jet-black hair in a neat buzz cut, brown eyes undoubtedly sizing up any completion in the student body, if he found any he remained unaffected. He had muscular everything, his poor shirt looked as if it would spilt at any moment, which oddly reminded Bella of The Hulk, all be it a very handsome Hulk._

_The next appearance was made by a stunning blonde. Bella was sure she had never seen anyone this beautiful in person, not that she had seen many people in her life. The closest thing was probably on a magazine cover. Her golden-blonde hair flowed in gentle waves, the type you could only get naturally, down her back. Her sapphire blue eyes scanned the student parking lot. It was almost like she was asserting herself, marking her territory when she firmly grasped to black-haired man's hand._

_Bella certainly wouldn't have wanted to be the one to follow that act, but the tiny pixie-like girl that bounced out of the car didn't seem to have any problem with it. Her black hair, extremely similar to the man-child's, was spiked out in a disarray that only she could have pulled off. Everything about this girl was small in the extreme but by just looking at her you could tell her personality was bigger than everyone else's. She just seemed like someone who radiated life and happiness; she belonged on Disney Channel or something._

_The pixie pulled yet another person out of the Volvo. He was tall and almost lanky, but not quite. He had curly honey blonde hair and eyes like the model blonde. He was one of those guys that were just plain…beautiful. There was no other way to describe it, he seemed a little taken a-back by the seen in front of him and pulled the pixie into his side. He was the calm to her excited._

_The finale of the show put everyone else to shame. The boy that stepped out of the driver's side was absolutely gorgeous. He had bronze hair unlike anything Bella had seen before. His piercing emerald green eyes seemed to land on her and she felt a wave of warmth flood her body, causing her in shudder. He was not as muscular as the man-child and not a tall as the beautiful boy but suddenly they were the extremes and bronze-boy was the normal, the best, the wanted. The perfect finale._


End file.
